


I Get What I Deserve

by Maone



Series: Killers In The Dark [1]
Category: Rush Hour (1998)
Genre: Gore, Horror, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-12-06 03:03:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11591598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maone/pseuds/Maone
Summary: Basically Kiss of Death just different take on it.Carter and Lee stumble into a situation far more dangerous than they've ever faced. Their survival depends on mental and physical endurance.





	1. Chapter 1

_Late night in L.A_

The brightness of street lights dimly lit an alley where two figures stood leaning against a wall, both men close enough to see cars turning around the corner across the road, but far enough to remain unnoticed by the passerby.

"I don't know why I went with you." Lee sighed.

Carter threw his partner a sideways glance.

"Because I went with you when I was on my vacation, Lee." He pointed out.

Lee rolled his eyes. _This again._

"And it's not like I dragged you here in handcuffs either, so chill out. Besides, you are curious about this just as I am."

"It doesn't sound right."

"You damn right it doesn't. This guy's a small fish, not even worth our time, but none of these idiots from precint want to deal with it."

"You said they scared." Lee said and Carter nodded.

"Which is stupid, which is why we're gonna deal with it and show them what pussies they are."

Lee stared at him blankly. Carter threw his head back, bumping against the wall.

"Mushu, Lee. They are mushu!" He gestured wildly. "Big stinkin' mushu."

Lee's lips twitched with amusement.

"You really like that word don't you?"

Carter smiled wickedly.

"Gotta memorize it somehow since I replaced it with your _Tún*."_

Alright. He saw the punch coming.

"Why do you always hit so hard, damn." He said, rubbing at his sore bicep.

"You talk stupid, you feel the stupid." Lee shrugged.

Carter gave him a judgmental look.

"You are just tryin' to get revenge on me for punching you that one time."

"You punched me in the face."

"It was an accident!"

* * *

It had to be nearly two in the morning by now, Carter yawned. He could have been doing better things with Lee than standing around in this dump, he wasn't paid enough for this. He was about to suggest that they just drop it and leave, when he noticed his partner intently staring at the spot where the presumed drug deal should take place.

"Maybe we should hide." Lee said in an unusualy hushed voice, eyes not leaving the spot. Carter raised an eyebrow in question.

"Why would we hide? What from? Junkies pick up their drugs in the middle of the night all the time, there's nothing to worry about, Lee." He said dismissively.

"Look."

Lee nodded towards the corner, with annoyance Carter followed his gaze.

At first he couldn't see what was Lee looking at, the area was out of the safety of the street light, leading to an alley of it's own. But then he saw something, or better, _someone_. The figure was blending with the darkness pretty damn well, dressed in full black, but his eyes bright enough to stand out, even if barely. He was completely still and Carter wondered when did the guy even get there, since they have been watching the spot for the past hour. The place has been quiet enough for them to hear the approaching car or footsteps, _anything_.

"How long has he been there, what the fuck..." Carter straightened up, voice low in disbelief.

The person watched them in silence even as they stared directly at him. He made no attempt to escape or charge at them, which only added to the creepy element.

Carter could feel his partner beginning to back further into the alley they've been standing in, he unconsciously moved with him while his eyes followed the corner where the person continued to stand and just...stare, motionless, until he all but disappeared from their sight. The second they lost the visual, Carter realized his heart is beating like he's about to have a heart attack, but he didn't understand why was he panicking? The man was just...standing there, he wasn't doing anything and yet, Carter has never felt this much intense uneasiness before.

They both stood there, quiet and unsure what to do. They couldn't just walk over there and arrest him, he wasn't doing anything. Besides, Carter didn't really feel the urge to get anywhere near someone who's staring at him like that. Lee certainly wasn't making the move to get the guy either, so Carter could only imagine the thoughts that were going through his partner's mind. He turned to look at Lee and even in the dim light barely spilling in from street lights, he could see even his partner tense from what they've just seen.

As if Lee could feel his stare, he spoke out in a hushed voice.

"Carter, what if it's a trap?"

Trap.

Carter felt like internally slapping himself. Of course it would be a damn trap. The fact that nobody was willing to take the case, the location, the time, fucking typical. Toss the sketchy shit at the only accomplished cop in the precint, why not.

Before he had the chance to reply though, they were blinded by headlights of a car stopping at the entrance of the alleyway. Carter tried to see what was going on with squinted eyes, seeing blurred figures appearing from both sides of the car. The engine was running, echoing thorough the alley and Carter barely heard his partner's scream as he was roughly pulled to retreat and suddenly he was running. He could hear the car beginning to accelerate behind them, feeling the panic rise as he realized they have nowhere to dodge if it speeds down their direction. Lee was frantically looking around for what Carter assumed was a potential escape route. The car behind them moved closer as it gained speed and Carter genuinely thought they were going to die here.

Lee yelled at him, stopping them both abruptly close to what seemed to be a raised fire escape.

"Help me up, quickly!" He shouted, already bracing himself on Carter's shoulder.

Carter didn't give it a second thought and boosted Lee up until his partner grabbed a hold of the hanging ladder, quickly climbing up and dropping it down for Carter who followed suit, climbing up as if his life depended on it, which Carter thought, it very much did. He didn't bother with lifting the ladder back up, too determined to get away. They ran up all the way to the roof, Carter only turning back once to see their pursuers splitting below, as the car drove away, but figures were climbing up behind them.

They jumped to the next apartment building, crossing the gap until they reached another, much lower rooftop ahead of them. Lee jumped first, probably to give Carter a reassurance that the drop wasn't as big as it seemed, he rolled with ease and motioned to Carter to jump. Carter took another look behind him and saw that their pursuers already reached the edge of the first roof, so he didn't think about it and jumped. The landing was a bit hard and he was sure his knees were scraped, but as Lee pulled him to his feet, all he could think of was 'we stop now, we're dead'.

* * *

 

They kept running across rooftops until they reached the edge and yet another fire escape, which they swiftly climbed down and back on the solid ground.

It was an unfortunate location to escape to, as the area was abandoned of any life and poorly lit, but it wasn't like they had much of an option to plan the escape route.

"I don't know what the hell is going on but," Carter breathlessly announced after finally coming to a stop and leaning against a brick wall, "I'm glad I let you drag me into your crazy workout schedule, Lee. Fuckin' hell."

Lee followed suit, catching his breath.

"Why are they after us?" He asked.

"How the hell should I know?! All I was told was to catch a damn junkie, not some men in black, shit!" Carter exclaimed, kicking at the ground and Lee gently grabbed his wrist, trying to calm him down.

"Be quiet, we don't know if they still following us." He said, cautiously scanning the area, still paranoid. Carter couldn't judge him, those assholes appeared out of nowhere last time and neither him or Lee heard them coming until they were already on their asses. He hated being caught off guard while he's the one supposed to have the upper hand. They were just supposed to grab a junkie, out of all the crap they went through in the past two years, this was the least harmful thing they were meant to face and it went to shit. He should have known it was suspicious, shouldn't have accepted the case.

It was beyond frustrating.

"Where do we go?" Lee asked, interrupting his thoughts.

Carter looked around, as much as he trusted his skill in knowing his city, L.A was still pretty big, he didn't know every corner and much to their current misfortune, didn't recognize this part of the city whatsoever. He searched for any remotely recognizable landmark, but came up fruitless and he shook his head at Lee.

"I don't know, this place doesn't ring any bell," he answered genuinely, "you think they are still following us?" He shuddered at the thought.

"Probably, they were too eager to get us, so maybe." Lee said, "you sure you don't know them?"

Carter shook his head.

"I got into some deep shit in my life, but never enough to have bunch of sketchy assholes chasing me into the night. They seemed pretty fit though, sounds like anything from your area?"

Lee thought about it for a moment.

"Juntao and Ricky Tan were the only people capable of pulling something like this," he motioned to where they just came from, "this is new."

"Well, that's just great. What the hell are we gonna do?"

Lee moved away from the wall as Carter kicked at dirt at his feet.

"We have to get back to the station-"

Carter looked up.

His partner was staring at him with wide eyes and alarms went off in Carter's head. He pushed himself away from the wall, concern building up as he rushed to Lee.

"Lee?"

Lee's lips moved but before he said anything, his eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed.

Carter cried out his name, barely catching him before he hit the ground. He went to cup his cheek, but his fingers brushed against something featherly.

A dart.

Before his hand made it to his belt, a stinging sensation in his neck immobilized him and before he knew it, everything went dark.

* * *

A car came to a halt next to the unconscious men, lying side by side. Three figures stepped out and walked over to the fallen officers. They shared a look, before two of them moved in to pick the bodies up, while the third pulled out his phone.

"We've got two, seem to be healthy, tell them we're heading over, looks like there's going to be some entertainment this time."

 

 

 

 

 

Tún - ass


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING!  
> This chapter has a very explicit description of gore.
> 
>  
> 
> This song is the bomb, helped me with this chapter so much.  
> https://youtu.be/Ngx54HtQCWc

Carter came to with a start. Abruptly, he sat up, immediately regretting his decision as his head painfully throbbed. He winced and instinctively rubbed at his neck, brushing over the slightly raised skin, making him pause. He ran his finger over the bump again, as foggy memories swam through his mind.

He remembered being in a chase, a man staring at him, getting lost...He frowned, this couldn't have been all, so many things were missing, but, it was so hard to remember, everything was so dark and disorienting, he just wished somebody would turn the damn light on already, he was in the dark long enough for today.

However.

 _Where_ was he? What time it was?

Taking in his surroundings, Carter noticed a weak source of light coming through the floor, it barely lit anything, making it impossible to judge how large this place was, but it illuminated enough for Carter to see the rusted metal pillars surrounding him, reaching impossibly high, swallowed by the darkness. He wrinkled his nose as he picked up the stench of musty, earthy odor, combined with something he couldn't identify for the time being.

The floor was damp and cold under his hands, forcing him to stagger to his feet, as whatever he was drugged with, began to wear off.

Up to this point he believed he was alone, but then, an uncomfortably soft voice startled him.

"I would say 'welcome back to the land of living', but that would be a cruel lie."

Carter's head snapped to the source of the voice and only just then he noticed a figure sitting in the corner of the room, weak light barely licking at the man's exposed feet. At the notion of Carter finally noticing him, he slowly stood up, taking a cautious step closer to the detective.

As far as Carter could tell, the man seemed to be asian, dressed in what would be under clean circumstances a suit. His jacket pierced with multiple clean cuts, his pants suffering same damage. He was covered in dark stains, splotches of it on his exposed and unusally pale skin. He looked like he went through hell and this place very well looked like one.

"The hell happened to you?" Carter blurted out, taken aback by the sight. So many questions on his tongue, but the uneasiness the man emanated making him paranoid.

The man stared at him with dark brown eyes as his fingers began to play with the torn corner of his shirt. Unreadable expression drawn over his face as he silently studied Carter who grew rapidly uncomfortable. Of course he was going to be weird, Carter couldn't imagine anyone keeping their sanity if they were stuck down here.

"Where are we?" Carter tried again, hoping the man would snap from whatever trance he dozed into. But the man didn't grace him with a reply, dark eyes giving him a searching look as if he waited for Carter to ask the right question, which only accomplished to stir Carter's trademark impatience.

"You were talking fine moments ago, don't give me the silent treatment now, I don't have time for this bullshit." He threatened, it was frustrating, he hated being kept in the dark, literally and figuratively. Even as fear began to claw at his mind from this man's odd behavior, he still wanted to know what was going on.

The man stopped rubbing at his shirt and tilted his head. Carter didn't think the man could be any more disturbing.

"You are right, you don't have time." He said, voice still unsettlingly relaxed.

"You are real fucking weird, you know that?" Carter cringed.

The smile that appeared on the guy's lips was straight out of horror movie as he slowly lifted his hand, pointing to what Carter now realized was a large gate separating their holding room from the rest of the building, facility, or whatever this was.

"The second that gate opens, one of us is going to die. Burrowers stalk these halls, letting you blindly stumble to your death," the man said, his eyes growing wide,"do you think you can hide when you can't see? When touch gains all but snick and slash and before you know it, your head becomes a landmark. They see everything."

Carter felt beyond disturbed. This guy was clearly insane.

As much as he wanted to get away from the nutjob, he clearly knew enough to survive in this hellhole. If what he said was true, Carter had to use this opportunity to squeeze information out of him to at least somewhat prepare himself for whatever was to come, because he sure as hell wasn't planning on dying.

"What's the purpose of this place? Why did they put us here?" Carter hoped that the man, even through his clouded mind, would give him what he wanted.

The man sneered.

"It takes four to play the game with Burrowers, the gate opens when all gather, ready to betray one another. Two on two. Every man holds his own head, there's not enough room for two. Waste of space, good riddance to be honest. They all are about compassion and no endurance, so in the end, only the smart ones survive."

"So there's four people?! Where are the other two...?" Carter looked at the gate.

"Far ahead.First bait," the man sighed dramatically, "they always scream so loud, so long, It's frustrating," he stared at the gate with blank expression, "my partner has always been loud, awful really, would you believe I heard him all the way here? Amazing isn't it."

Partner.

Carter felt himself shake as memories came flooding back.

_I don't know why I went with you._

Cold dread washed over him. His arms rose to clutch his head, as his fear level immediately skyrocketed with realization.

"Oh God, _Lee_." His voice trembled as he stared into the darkness beyond the metal gate. He completely forgot about his partner, his _lover_.

"Lee?" The man asked curiously and then, his eyes widened with understanding," they snatched you with a partner,huh? This hunt is definitely going to be interesting. I bet you are worried, _is he going to die first?_ " the man mocked him, he was _enjoying_ this, Carter clenched his fist, "let me save you the trouble, yes he will, but don't worry, you'll follow him _soon_ enough."

Carter's fist went flying before he gave it any rational thought, only for it to be stopped abruptly by the man's hand and painfully twisted behind his back. Carter  cried in pain, falling to his knees, the man standing above him.

"You should be glad that I graced you with the knowledge of what's about to happen, instead of trying to assault me. I didn't survive this place for so long to be taken down by someone who barely understands the concept of fighting for his life. If you really wanted to live, you wouldn't even blink at the thought of your partner's death, they do nothing but drag you down, your own survival is the only thing that should matter to you." The man hissed in his ear and shoved Carter forward until he hit the floor face first, taking a first strong whiff of the disgusting stench reeking through the building and coughing violently. The smell he couldn't recognize at first. _Decomposition_. "You have no idea what horrors await you beyond this gate, you should appreciate what I've given you."

"You crazy motherfucker," Carter growled as he heavily lifted himself off the ground, wiping the dirt off his face.

Just then, the gate made a loud creaking noise, stopping Carter from another attempt at attacking the guy, as he stared at the bars slowly rising up, removing the only barier between him and the darkness ahead.

The man slowly made his way towards the gate. Unafraid. He already knew what's in there after all.

"Try not to scream too much when you die, it gets obnoxious really quick." He whispered and disappeared into the darkness.

Carter took few careful steps forward, his heart in his throat, but the man's words haunted him.

He furrowed his brow.

_We'll see which one of us is gonna bite the dust first._

And with that, he walked into the darkness.

So, it begins.

* * *

 

This place really gave the word 'dark' a whole new meaning. Even as Carter slowly adjusted to it, he struggled to see inches in front of him. How can anyone get realistically around this place without walking into a wall at every five feet? The echo of his every step made it even worse, after all, he was apparently being stalked. His unpleasant companion already vanished through the maze of halls that were laid all around him, navigating through them with ease after going through the same process multiple times before.

Carter's hands blindly reached out, searching for something to get a solid grip on. He felt so unbalanced as he carefully inched forward, wherever he was heading. Once he felt a metal wall against his palm, he used it as his guiding point, sliding his hand along, following it at each curve, hoping it would lead him to Lee.

He prayed for Lee to be alive, the man said their companions were supposed to be released before them and fortunately, Carter has yet to heard any cries or screams of pain. He wasn't sure if the silence was a good thing either though, while he didn't hear the potential death of his partner, neither did he hear the Burrowers, as the man called them. For now, all he heard were his steps, echoing through the halls. Just how big was this place?

As he made it around another corner, he felt something at his feet and nearly tripped right over it as he gave it a startled kick, it squelched and released an awful odor. Carter quickly covered his nose with his free hand and reached out with his foot, feeling for what the hell it was.

The softness combined with something hard, that Carter could only assume were skeletal remnants, were enough of an answer to his question and he swallowed, glad he couldn't see anything. He didn't really want to know how that individual died, but he smelled enough to have been there for days. Lee was still alive. He was sure of it.

Carter didn't really know what he was looking for to be honest, he just blindly followed where the halls led him, occasionaly feeling draft at his feet from what he guessed was a vent, which might have been a good hiding spot if he wasn't six feet tall.

Damn it, if only -

He heard a loud bang, which nearly made him jump out of his skin as he turned around in circle, trying to find where it came from and then....

A loud scream carried through the halls and Carter fell to his knees, covering his ears as the terrifying sound bounced off the walls around him, doubling in strength, the absolute terror seeping through his skin as he involuntarily listened to the first murder. The screams dying to gurgling and moaning, until it was silent yet again and Carter found himself hunched in on himself on the ground.

His breath coming in short frantic exhales, the reality of the situation struck hard.

He was going to die, they were all going to die.

He took a deep breath. Calm down, you are not going to die, hold it together Carter, that wasn't Lee, you know it wasn't him.

Balling his hand into a fist, he began to pull himself back up. He could do this.

But something has changed after the scream, Carter began to hear _something_ , it was far, but it was a continuous noise and while he had no idea what it was, he definitely didn't want to be near it. Anything brave enought to be loud in this place, had to be confident and confident might as well mean the fucking Burrowers and they were the last thing he'd want to come across now.

Either way, there were only three people left now, still, one to keep himself and Lee off the radar, there was still a chance to get out of this alive, Carter didn't want to accept anything less. He wanted to call out to Lee, afraid he might pass him or go a completely opposite way from him, but he didn't want to risk attracting any attention to himself and knowing Lee, he was undoubtedly doing the same, he just had to hope they'd walk into each other soon.

As Carter turned yet another corner, he heard something.

Much to his shock he finally found out what was that noise he heard a while ago. The sound of steel dragging against the metal floor and it was right there, in the darkness ahead, followed by deep breathing muffled by a mask. Carter covered his mouth to stop himself from crying out in panic and pressed himself against the wall, quietly moving backwards, away from the approaching sound.

He tried to move as fast as he could without his steps overpowering the sound of Burrower's weapon against the floor, eyes widened in horror as he heard the sound coming closer.

_I have to get the fuck out of here, or I'm next._

His hand desperately reaching behind him, praying that another corner comes soon enough, feeling exposed as the stalker approached closer and he had nowhere to hide. His breath ragged, sweat forming on his forehead as he silently prays for that damn corner to come up already. _Don't let me die here._

Just as he thought he's finished, his hand reached emptiness and his heart jumped in joy. Corner, he reached the damn corner. Quickly he hid behind it and stopped for a second, listening to whether the Burrower was heading his direction. The sound if the steel stopped for a moment and Carter felt as if the time stopped with it. He waited.

The muffled breathing was the only sign for Carter to where the Burrower was positioned. Still far enough and unmoving. He was listening too and so Carter held his breath. Seconds ticked by as Carter's life for once, depended on his silence. It felt like it was taking forever, but at last, Carter could hear the steel yet again, but the sound growing distant until it was only a faint noise yet again and Carter just collapsed to the ground in relief. Head in his hands as he tried to recover from what just happened.

He wanted to get out of there so bad, grab Lee and burn this place to the ground, erase this living hell from the face of Earth.

Taking a deep breath and mentally counting to five, he stood up. He escaped death this time, but how many times could he afford to be lucky?

Sound became his sight as the distant noise of steel against the metal floor carried continuously from that point on. Were they trying to scare them? To make them panic, screw up and reveal their position? Was this some sort of a mental game? If it was, it was working.

* * *

 

Carter had no idea how long was he wandering around, but he had yet to heard another scream and that could only mean that the other two were still successfuly holding up as well. He knew Lee could take care of himself, he was his little ninja after all and that creep? Well, that guy was a special case of his own, Carter only hoped that he wouldn't walk into him first, or worse, if Lee did. He felt the anger rising in him at the thought of this guy using Lee's kindness to save his own neck. If it ever came to that, Carter would make sure he survived this long enough to snap that guy's neck personally. The thought only fueled him to keep going. He wasn't going to get outlived by that psychopath.

Carter stopped as he heard a noise again, in the distance, but this one was....different. Fast approaching, loud and frantic. Someone running? Carter pressed himself against the wall again, waiting. He was already behind a corner, in one of the smaller tunnels, whoever was running, was heading down one of the larger main halls of this maze. As the footsteps grew louder, Carter began to hear something else, the steel against the floor and realization washed over him.

This was one of the survivors. What if it was Lee? The Burrower must have spotted him and pursued him when he slipped away, but at the same time, it could have been the crazy guy, he seemed agile enough, experienced enough. What should he do? Carter leaned over the corner, the person rapidly growing closer.

Should he risk exposing his own safe spot for the sake of someone he wasn't sure was his partner?

He was nearly there.

If it was the crazy guy, he would save someone who was more than willing to throw him to the wolves at first opportunity.

Now or never.

Carter quietly cursed and walked out of his safe spot, reaching with his hand to grab at the person's arm and violently dragging them to the small tunnel. He immediately felt resistance, so he wrestled them to the ground, shoving his hand over their mouth and whispering in their ear.

"Stay quiet and he'll go right past us."

It seemed to work immediately as the person went still as a statue, trying to even out their breaths.

They laid there as sound of steel approached, followed by that familiar heavy muffled breathing.

 _Come on, keep walking you asshole, nothing to see here, come on._ Carter urged him internally and even though he couldn't see him, his eyes followed the sound as it passed them. He remained where he was though, he wanted to make sure the Burrower was far enough for them to be able to get up without being spotted, he definitely didn't plan on repeating this.

As he laid there, he felt hands on his face and he flinched, but the touch remained, slowly, gently brushing over his cheeks, his nose, his lips and suddenly he heard a gasp from underneath him. His eyes widened in realization and he found his own hands doing the same to the person below him, the moment he removed his hands from those lips, he heard probably the best sound since this whole damn ordeal started.

"Carter, is it you _?_ " The choked up voice, the broken english that Carter almost believed he'd never hear again.

" _Lee?_ " He felt lump rising in his own throat as this massive wave of relief washed over him.

He helped his partner sit up before wrapping his arms around him and practically pulling Lee into his lap, leaning in until he found his lips and pressed a kiss against them. It was slow and soft, comforting in ways that words would never be. Gentle nibbling, tongue tracing lower lip as their breaths mingled. Both men desperate for reassurance, sharing caressing touches to forget, just for a moment, the nightmare they were trapped in. They pulled away before desire took the better of them. As they moved to stand up, Lee hissed and Carter grabbed his bicep in worry.

"Are you hurt?" he whispered in concern, cursing silently that he couldn't see anything.

"Is just a cut, nothing serious." Lee whispered back. Carter wasn't reassured.

"Where?" He demanded.

"Carter..."

"I want to see for myself, so tell me where did he cut you."

Lee sighed and took Carter's hand, guiding it to his left thigh. Carter could almost feel him wince when his fingers made contact with the wound.

Carter carefuly traced the wound that had to be good five inches long. Blood still seeping through the torn fabric. Carter removed his tie and knelt in front of Lee, tightly securing it around the wound, drawing out only a slight gasp from Lee at the added pressure. Fortunately Carter didn't hear any sign of Burrower approaching.

"You good?" He squeezed Lee's hand.

"Yes, I'm okay, thank you." Lee replied, returning the squeeze and Carter stood up, still gripping his partner's hand, as they headed down the dark hallway.

* * *

They walked in silence, grip tight between their hands. The lack of Burrowers made Carter restless, he'd rather have those creepy fuckers wandering around, denting their weapons against the floor, rather than walk into one of them standing behind a corner.

Suddenly a very unexpected sight appeared in front of them as they turned yet another corner. Bright light coming from one of the hallway, an actual proper light. They headed towards it, excited but cautious, it could still be a trap and they survived long enough to want to keep it that way. They took a peek around the corner, adjusting to the light, before they saw a door that was slightly ajar.

"This could be way out." Lee whispered.

Carter couldn't believe it, were they really going to get out? As they moved closer to it, they could see that the lock was broken, they exchanged a look now that they could finally see each other. Carefully, Lee pushed the door open, not stepping in until they could see what was in there. It was a small room with another, thick metal door with a window at the end of it, door that was much to their luck, also ajar. They stepped inside, Lee carefully shutting the first door behind them. The room had nothing of interest in it, besides a table and cameras that were likely monitoring the progress in the maze and so they moved to the more sturdy door. Once they opened those, they were greeted with what must have been the final hallway out of this maze, only stopped with one final gate, but that wasn't the only thing that was in there.

"How did you get here? You should have been still in there, being chased until your imminent death, how did you find me?! This is impossible!"

It was the goddamn crazy guy, with a dead guard at his feet.

"Stop yelling, you gonna get us killed!" Lee urged him, but it was no use. The man was absolutely besides himself.

Carter was seething as he took a step closer to the man, who was about to unlock the final gate holding him from his freedom with the keys he must have found in the previous room.

"You were planning this all along, weren't you? You knew about the exit, you knew when it'll be safe to get in."

"You ruined it all!"

"I don't understand, why do it alone, we could have helped." Lee said in puzzlement.

"He was leading them to us, the banging that I heard....No wonder that he was so convinced that we'd die." Carter said, voice filled with disbelief.

"Now we're all going to die because of you." The man hissed.

Sound of steel against the metal floor made them all turn to the door separating them from the maze.

"They found us." Lee whispered and turned to look at Carter whose eyes full of fear remained fixed on the door.

_We were so close to getting out._

The man lurching at them was what made them snap out of it, he grabbed Carter in a choke hold and screamed.

"I am not dying here with you, you hear me?  You deserve it, not me! You are not worthy!"

Carter gasped for air as Lee went for the man's own throat who dropped his hold on Carter and turned his full attention to Lee. Both men began to fight, oblivious to the sound of Burrower coming near. As soon as Carter recovered, the door broke down to splinters as Burrower walked through, but immediately screamed and covered his eyes as the light hit him. Carter scrambled to his feet to aid Lee who was slowly but surely being pushed towards the large man like a lamb getting ready for slaughter.

"You'll die here, accept it, your fate's been sealed the moment you stepped into the maze!" The man screamed and Carter ran for it, grabbing the man from behind and tearing him off Lee, shoving him towards the room where the Burrower slowly recovered. Lee in the meantime got to his feet and grabbed Carter's hand, pulling him towards the metal door. With difficulty they shut it behind them, just as the man began to bang his fist against it, screaming and howling.

"No, you can't kill me! You can't fucking kill me!"

Carter and Lee slowly backed away from the door, watching the scene unfold before them through the small window in the door, as the Burrower recovered, his eyes covered in his mask and the machete in his hand rising above his head as he dragged his feet to the hysterical man banging at the door. Both men watched as the Burrower's weapon went down on the man and he threw his head back and shrieked so loudly like Carter has never heard a person shriek before as blood sprayed on the door, the wall and the Burrower as he severed the man's arm. The Burrower took a fistful of the man's hair, whose eyes were still fixed on Carter and Lee, still wild and crazy, as he slammed him face first into a wall. Carter heard a sickening crunch of the man's nose breaking against the force, he was still screaming at the top of his lungs, it was deafening. The Burrower slammed his head against the wall multiple times before throwing the man aside. The man making last pathetic attempt of escape as the Burrower stomped on his back and began to chop at his kneecaps, blood spraying everywhere, the man helplessly kicking and clawing at the floor, trying to pull himself away, but soon enough his screams were rendered to painful whines as the bloodloss began to take it's toll.

When the Burrower cut his legs off, he raised his machete one more time and drove it in the back of the man's neck, silencing him immediately. Carter frantically pulled at Lee, dragging him away from the door, so the Burrower wouldn't see them. They slipped away while the burrower poked at the deceased's man exposed flesh, clearly too preocupied.

They unlocked the gate with the keys the crazy man left behind and ran until they reached another door and this time time the darkness that greeted them was accompanied by the smell of fresh air and moon high in the sky.

They were outside.


	3. Chapter 3

Forest.

Of all places that Carter thought they were brought into, the last one would be a damn forest. At this point he wasn't even sure if they were still in L.A...or America for that matter. He has always been a city boy and this kind of environment was never his kind of thing. But then again, he never thought he'd end up in some creepy ass murder game either.

Since it was also pretty late at night, the visibility was still on the low. It wasn't as bad as it was in the maze, because Carter could at least see where he was walking for once, but it was still pretty bad. They didn't have the luxury of being picky, they got out and that's what matters.

Carter turned to his partner who was close behind. Even with the low visibility, he could see Lee rubbing at his injured leg.

"You alright Lee? Your leg hurtin'?"

"Is fine, just sore from fight." Lee replied.

"Well, you are probably not gonna be happy to hear that we got some walking to do." Carter said, looking around, "cause I got a feeling that we are in the middle of nowhere and we got no phone."

"At least we are out." Lee pointed out and began walking. Carter glanced back at the dark entrance to the maze and he prayed to never see it again.

* * *

Carter didn't know how long they've been walking, he lost his watch  after they were captured, but it felt long enough. There was no sign of civilization in sight, but they started hearing noises, it sounded really far, so at the time they didn't think much of it, it was a forest after all, plenty of animals walking around at night. However they decided to be cautious and stayed out of open areas, sticking to the cover of trees. They didn't talk much, silence kept them alive in the maze, so silence remained even outside. Carter was especially frustrated form the lack of his favourite gun, he felt naked without it, without anything to defend himself with and he had a feeling that Lee would not be of much use either.

Carter stayed close to his partner, he couldn't stop thinking about their previous separation and the realization of how close to death they've been in their prison. Not just his near encounter with the Burrower, but Lee almost got killed by one and from what his partner shared with him, their crazy guy was the one who alerted the Burrower's attention to him. Carter felt the bitterness on his tongue. Glad the fucker was dead, good riddance.

Speaking of riddance....

"When were you supposed to go back to Hong Kong?" Carter whispered.

Lee turned to look at him.

"Why you asking?"

Carter shrugged.

"Just wondering."

Lee thought about the answer for a moment. "Hmm, I don't know how long we been here, but since the night, probably around last week?"

Carter stopped walking, eyes widened in disbelief, making Lee stop as well. "You what?"

"What?" Lee asked in puzzlement.

"What do you mean 'what' ? You stayed here even though your boss told you to come back?"

"Yes?"

Carter shook his head in astonishment as a smile appeared on his lips.

"Lee, you've never done that before. You little rebel!" He couldn't help his voice rising at this surprising revelation and Lee quickly rushed over to him and covered his mouth.

"Be quiet, what if they following us?" He whispered angrily, looking around in paranoia, but Carter's grin remained as he pushed the hand off his mouth.

"So that's why Diel..." Lee could probably see the lightbulb light up above's Carter head as he started to cackle and he slapped his hand back over those damn noisy lips, but Carter just pushed the hand away again.

"Stop laughing!" He warned.

"Oh my god, you were the one who told Diel that there's a chinese drug cartel. He cancelled my assignment, so he'd team me up with you again! Lee, you little lovable cheeky shit, _come here_."

Before Lee had any idea what was Carter doing, those noisy lips were pressed against his own in a warm and unexpectedly welcoming kiss. It was short, but sweet and when Carter pulled back, he still had that smile on his face and Lee couldn't help himself but to smile sheepishly back.

"Man, this is why I love you."

Carter surprised himself with the affection behind his words, he felt heat rising to his cheeks, he never actually ever _told_ Lee...

What they had was, what he always believed, casual relationship. There were no promises, no expectations of future life together and yet, here they were. Side by side, fighting to survive and Carter didn't think he could love Lee any more than he did right now.

Before he could get answer from Lee, they both heard shouts and immediately knelt to the ground, alert. They listened as the shouting continued and a light appeared in the distance, making them both scramble for cover behind the trees.

"Shit! How did they find us so quickly?" Carter cursed, hunching behind a tree trunk, eyes peeled on the nearing lights.

"Don't move, they don't see us yet, they might walk past." Lee whispered.

So they sat there, hiding, eyes watchful of the stranger's movements as their lights got closer and closer, but never aiming at their hiding spot. The closer they got, the clearer the voices became and Carter and Lee could hear the conversation they had over a radio.

"I knew that fucking chinaman was going to screw it up, this is why I kept saying that we should kill them if they survive more than two hunts."

_"Well, he's dead now. Looks like one of the Burrowers found him before he got out."_

"What about the other three?"

_"Uh, I think we came across the remains of one so far, but we still haven't searched the whole maze. If they didn't fuck up the cameras-"_

One of the men snarled in annoyance.

"Alright, we'll keep looking for the Burrowers, if you find the two, just kill them because we have to fix that place up before we can get it running again, fucking asian prick breaking everything..."

The flashlights shone their light in Carter's and Lee's direction, but passed by them unnoticed and the group continued to walk.

As soon as Carter and Lee were sure they were out of earshot, they left their hiding spot and looked at each other.

"But we closed door behind us, how did they get out?" Lee asked desperately. "This make no sense."

"I don't know, but I really want to get the fuck out of here." Carter grimaced, glancing around suspiciously. The thought of those freaky fuckers being somewhere around them, with their goddamn night vision and no corners around here to hide behind...Well, there went his temporary feeling of relief.

* * *

It was becoming slowly easier to see, the sun was rising and Carter felt just a little bit better at the notion that soon he could see just as much as the Burrowers. They didn't seem to do very well in the light, maybe the finally had a chance at getting out of there. They wandered far and did not encounter another group of men since the first one. That might have meant that they got far enough, at least Carter would hope so, they couldn't have had the entire place under radar, could they?

Carter was so set on getting out of the forest that he didn't even notice when Lee wasn't in front of him, but following him instead. They carried on brief conversations, but otherwise focused on finding a way out. Lee wasn't very interested in talking, but that was nothing surprising. What was however surprising, was his partner asking for a break.

With the rising sun, Carter could also finally take a good look at his partner without worrying that his head might get chopped off any minute.

Carter knew that they were walking for hours, but they were literally just walking and while Carter was a little bit out of breath, Lee's breathing was shallow, as if he just ran a marathon. He heavily leaned against a tree as he tried to collect himself and Carter could hear the alarm bells going off in his head. Lee was always in top shape, there's no way he'd get this exhausted just from walking for couple hours, not Lee. So Carter's eyes moved to Lee's injured leg, the tie he wrapped around the wound was dark with blood and it didn't even cover the wound entirely as Carter could see the exposed flesh sticking to Lee's pants with dried blood.

Lee snapped him out of his thoughts by slumping to the ground with a pained sound and Carter was at his side in an instant.

"Lee, tell me what's wrong." Carter scowled, hands already working the knot of his bloodied tie. Already, by touching the wounded area, Carter could feel swelling. Fear gripped his heart as he frantically tugged at the knot, revealing the rest of the wound and...

"Infected, yes I know, Carter." Lee said with difficulty. He had to be in enormous pain. Carter stared at him in disbelief.

He felt like screaming.

"Why didn't you say something?!" He demanded, desperate look fixed on Lee, who only shook his head in response.

"Even if I did, nothing we can do."

"Nothing we can do?!" He couldn't stop himself from crying out. "For fuck sake, Lee! This shit could _kill you._ "

Lee placed a hand on top of Carter's that were still rested over his injury. Carter eyes traced the injury, noting the severity of it.

"Carter, calm down. Listen -" Lee remained composed even in his decreasing situation and it made Carter even angrier. Didn't he understand the risk? Was he even taking it seriously?

"Carter, listen to me!" Lee snapped at him. Carter looked at him, for once too speechless to snap back, so Lee continued, "I didn't tell you because I don't want you to panic, which is exactly what you doing now! The only way to find help is keep going and if I can't, then you keep going without me, I can wait."

Speechless wasn't enough to describe what was going through Carter's head right now. No, that was all he could think of.

"No." He found himself saying it and Lee looked at him desperately.

"What you mean 'no' ? There is no other -"

"I'm not leaving you behind, I don't care if it's common sense, it's not Carter's sense and that's all that I care about." Carter was going to be stubborn if he had to. He would handcuff Lee to himself if he still had his handcuffs, but there was no way in hell he would leave him behind. When Lee tried to say something, Carter just raised his finger warningly.

"Don't bother trying to change my mind, because it ain't happening."

When Lee gave him a look of disappointment, he chose to ignore it.

"Do you see yourself walking anytime soon or is it out of the question?" Carter asked as calmly as he could manage in his current distress, he tossed the bloody tie aside, scowling when he realized there was nothing else he could use to wrap around it.

"I can walk." Lee replied.

Carter gave him a doubtful look. Shame he didn't have a mirror, Lee should see himself and how miserable he looked. Sweating from fever, looking like he's about to fall over at any minute and his leg swollen to hell.

"Alright, let me be more specific; Can you walk without passing out after ten feet?"

Lee looked unimpressed to say the least. Carter raised his hands in peace offering.

"Alright, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, but we'll take it slow."

They sat there for a moment, letting Lee regain whatever strength he could in his feverish state, before he moved to get up. Through much protesting, Carter pulled him to his feet, offering his shoulder for Lee to lean on as they headed out. The progress was extremely slow, but it gave them more time to look around in hopes of finding a building, or a car.

* * *

 

At first, Lee pushed Carter off, determined that he can walk on his own and he did, for a while, but it wasn't long before Carter was shuffling back to his side and Lee heavily leaned into his lover. Carter placed a supporting arm around his waist and desperately prayed for something to finally appear. Lee wasn't going to be walking for long, he was already nearly falling over from exhaustion.

"Do you need a break?" Carter asked, not releasing his hold on Lee.

"You keep asking every five minutes." Lee groaned.

"I'm gonna keep asking every five minutes if you keep avoiding the answer."

"Carter, look."

"See, you are doing it again-"

"No, look!" Lee grabbed Carter's chin to turn his head in the direction he was looking in.

There, in the distance was what very much looked like a cabin.

Fucking finally.

 

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

As they neared the cabin, Carter noticed a car parked nearby. The model being a very familiar black SUV.

"Shit, I think this place might belong to our baddies and something tells me they ain't on a vacation."

Carter walked with Lee to a nearby tree, removing his supportive grip. Lee looked at him in confusion.

"I'm just gonna scout the perimeter, just wanna see how many of them are there." Carter reassured.

"And then what, you fight them yourself?" Lee asked incredulously, staring him up and down.

Carter gave him an insulted look.

"Who saved your ass in the maze? Me. That's right."

"You just body slammed me against ground, that's no fighting. Let me help." Lee pleaded.

Carted raised an eyebrow and now it was his turn to stare Lee up and down.

"And you gonna do what, Lee? Faint them into submission? Give them tetanus? Come on, just have some faith man. I've dealt with the female Bruce Lee in Las Vegas, I can handle few thugs."

Lee frowned doubtfully, glancing at the cabin. Then he sighed in defeat.

"Just...be careful."

"I'm always careful...well, most of the time." Carter grinned and kissed Lee on the cheek before sneaking off in the direction of the cabin. Lee could only pray that Carter really did learn something from their past experiences.

* * *

 

_I can do this. I've dealt with worse shit, handled the Burrowers, can handle two guards, can't be that bad can it?_

He sneaked around the back of the wooden cabin, it was a pretty small, basic building, pretty new too, the wood still smelled fresh. _Did they build this as a checkpoint for their creepy ass maze?_ He thought. It would probably make sense, if they were trying to keep their _activities_ hush-hush. He made his way to the front, pressed against the cabin wall, he poked his head out to see if anyone was out there, fortunately, nobody was, however he did hear voices in the cabin itself.

_Two?_

He listened some more.

_Yeah, sounds like two._

Now how was he going to take them down? He couldn't just walk in there, might as well paint a red target on his chest. He scanned his surroundings, noticing a lot of rocks laying around. He poked his head out again to check where the entrance to the cabin was. Then he checked the roof and finally, glanced towards Lee.

_Right._

_This might work._

He gestured to Lee, pointing further to the right.

_Hide._

Lee disappeared out of his view soon enough, for a guy from Hong Kong, he sure blends well with the nature. Though from what he remembered, that place was a jungle on its own.

Carter picked up bunch of small stones laying at his feet and quietly made his way to a tree from where he could see the entrance to the cabin, but still generally remain out of the view. He took a deep breath and...

Started throwing the stones over the low roof, behind the cabin, hearing some bounce off the wood. Satisfied, he immediately took a cover behind the tree and waited.

And he didn't wait long, response was almost immediate as two armed men, dressed in black cargo outfit and a bulletproof vest, ran out. Carter immediately took his chance and ran for the cabin. He rushed in, eyes frantically searching for anything he could use as a weapon. The room was filled with monitoring cameras that had nothing but static on them, but Carter wasn't interested in that, not important right now, he went for drawers, cupboards, trying to find something.

To his horror, he could already hear the men heading back and he still had _nothing_. He was about to hide when he heard a loud noise and both men shouted, turning back, away from the cabin, giving Carter one last chance to search the place. Then he finally saw it, a gun, an actual handgun under bunch of papers on the table. He cursed, he completely missed it.

Hee grabbed it, praying it had ammo. He quickly released the magazine, hearing the commotion outside, much to his relief the handgun was fully loaded and he snapped the magazine back in.

Then the shots started. The wild sounds of AK-47 echoing through the forest and Carter was sure that if anyone was looking for them, they were bound to hear them now.

Carter rushed outside and to his shock realized what those men were shooting at. The target of their devastating attack was a nearly obliterated tree trunk that had to be only standing by the power of will. _You have better fucking not...._

He aimed his gun and with two shots, ended the rampage.

Carter ran over to the fallen bodies, kicking at them to make sure they were really dead, but the bullet went clean through both their heads, there was no way they'd survive that. He still kicked their guns away, just to make sure and ran to the destroyed tree, screaming his partner's name and fearing the worst.

As soon as he made it to the tree, his fears have been immediately replaced with relief as two startled eyes met his and he found his partner slowly picking himself off the ground.

Carter could have sworn that had it not been for the adrenaline still rushing through his veins, he'd probably cry with relief.

"You are one....crazy ass....motherfucker..." He was way too out of breath for a rant, but he was sure as hell going to try.

"I was helping you!" Lee gestured wildly as he tried to get up, only to fail miserably.

Right.

Carter was going to kill him.

"I don't fucking know how do you have the nerve," he pulled Lee up, "to call me the irresponsible one in this relationship."

"Ouch." Lee hissed in pain. Carter glanced at his wounded leg, hoping Lee's little stunt didn't make it worse.

"Damn right 'ouch', I'd bitchslap you if you weren't already out of your damn mind." He grunted.

Much to Lee's surprise, Carter didn't lend him a supportive hand like he did before, but straight up bent down and swept him off his feet, Lee scrambling to get a hold on his partner.

"Carter! What are you doing?!" Lee cried out, startled.

"Shut up or I'm gonna drop you."

* * *

 

With the use of first aid they found in the cabin, Carter cleaned and redressed Lee's wound with proper bandage, while his partner studied the map they found at the place, already feeling better from taking the pain medication they found.

"I can't believe we are in Canada, how the hell did they manage to get us all the way here?" Carter walked over to the small kitchen area, hunting for food, he was starving.

Lee was sitting at the table, his injured leg propped up on another chair as the man traced his fingers over the map.

"Don't know, but they have many checkpoints here, look," Lee turned the map to Carter, who managed to make himself a sandwich, offering Lee a bite who shook his head, "this one is closest to the place they held us in. Another one is up the road." Carter leaned over him, staring at the map.

"They make a full circle around the maze, no one gets in or out...or so they thought, I guess," Carter saw a thick black line going around the forest, "hm...think they fenced it in?"

Lee leaned back, tapping on the table in thought.

"It would make sense. If this forest is private, they can hide real purpose, maybe say it's..." Lee's english was clearly at his limit, so Carter took over.

"Recreational resort, of-fucking-course. Those cabins are all over the place, nobody would suspect a damn thing!" He cried triumphantly. Freaking _genius_.

"You are dropping breadcrumbs all over me." Lee ran his hand through his short black hair.

"Sorry."

They both jumped at the sound of a radio crackling. Searching for where it is, Carter spotted it near the kitchen counter and walked over to grab it, carrying it back to Lee so they could both listen.

_"-ost them. They weren't found in the maze and one of the patrols reported finding two pairs of footprints."_

"Looks like they figured out we escaped." Carter noted, Lee hmmed in agreement.

_"They're the last of our worry right now. We have six deceased in the northwest checkpoint, every patrol is to head out to the gates, the Burrowers broke through the barrier."_

Carter and Lee looked at each other. The barrier? But that would mean....

_"They are out."_

* * *

"I don't know why won't you just let me carry you over there, it'd be hella faster." Carter's arm was wrapped around his partner's waist as he hobbled over to the car.

"My legs, gonna use them if I want to."

Carter rolled his eyes and opened the passenger door for him, letting him climb in on his own as he walked over to the driver's side.

"Right," Carter started once they were both settled in, "so to summarize it, we are pretty much good to go, nobody is chasing us, but! There's a group of runaway murderous psychopaths and an army of people chasing them in the direction we are heading, so we're not exactly good to go either."

Lee had the map in his lap.

"But they didn't escape through main gate," he tapped on the spot, his finger sliding along the black line, "they broke through barrier."

"Yeah, but the guards are heading to the gates, so what's your point?"

Lee gave him an amused look.

"What?"

"You were so smart while ago, where did it go?" He grinned.

Carter rolled his eyes and Lee put his hands up in peace offering.

"Carter, it means the barrier is weak. If they break through, we break through. We don't need to use gate."

"Oh shit, that's true, yeah. They didn't consider anyone breaking out and heavy protection would cause suspicion, so they couldn't enforce it, damn Lee, come here, you get a kiss for that one."

Lee was still grinning when Carter pulled him in for a quick kiss. He cleared his throat to regain some seriousness.

"Okay, you can follow the road up to here," he pointed at a second checkpoint, "nobody in there, but then you have to go off the road, because gate is next and we don't know if anyone is there."

Carter started the car and headed down the dirt road.

* * *

The second checkpoint appeared to be abandoned as they suspected, no car in sight and nobody walked out when they heard the engine. As Carter inched the car forward however, they could see why.

Blood and gore smeared all over the cabin's walls, door reduced to splinters and windows broken. Sliced up bodies laid sprawled in grotesque positions all around the cabin, their wounds absolutely devastating.

"I guess we found the northwest checkpoint...." Carter murmured, disturbed.

Lee said nothing. There wasn't honestly much to say, even though these people were criminals for what they've done, it was still a pretty horrific way to go.

Carter turned the car off road as planned, high suspension enabling the car's easy way through, as they slowly but surely approached the barrier.

It only took about five miles, when they finally saw the long line of fence. On the other side, a visible asphalt road. The last obstacle to their freedom.

Carter lined up the car and stepped on the gas, breaking through clean and only barely scraping the paint on the bonnet of the car. The car jumped a little before it came to a clearing and they were out. Carter released a deep sigh and rested his forehead on the steering wheel.

"Lee, does the map show any town nearby?" He sighed, relieved.

"Carter. Drive." Lee replied in strained voice.

"I will when you tell me which way, you have the damn map."

"Carter!" Lee cried, painfully grabbing Carter's arm, making him look over.

Only to see two Burrowers hovering over a decapitated corpse. Their stare fixed on Carter and Lee.

"Oh my fucking god....." Carter stuttered.

Both of the large men began to move towards the car.

"Carter, drive!" Lee cried hysterically and Carter slammed his foot on the gas, the engine roaring at this rough treatment as it tore through the bushes and landed on the road, tires screeching against the asphalt. The rear window shattered and both men screamed as a bloody machete embedded itself in the dashboard. Carter didn't ease his foot on the gas pedal until he felt that the distance was enough.

Lee turned in his seat to look back.

"See anything?" Carter asked with shaky voice.

"No, but don't stop." Lee sounded just as shaken as he was.

"I won't, I won't....fuck. You okay?"

Lee nodded rapidly, turning to look at Carter. "Are you?"

"Besides the mini heart attack, yeah?"

Lee grabbed the machete and pulled it out of the dashboard, throwing it on the backseat. Carter swallowed.

"I guess we have a souvenir from our little trip to Canada."

Lee shook his head.

"Terrible vacation."

They both released a shaky laugh and Carter drove on.

Couple hours later they reached a town and contacted the state police. They reported what they've seen and handed over the map, while the police took over and went to investigate, Lee was finally taken to a hospital to get his wound properly treated. While waiting for Lee to be released, Carter called Captain Diel, from whom he learned that he and Lee have been missing for three days and the drug dealer report was found to be faulty. Carter promised to share the details of their ordeal after they've returned and Diel organized their transport back.

By the time Lee was released with freshly bandaged leg and some really strong medication that had him practically passing out before they even made it to the hotel, the state troopers have returned to brief the two of their findings.

Only to be told that there were none.

Much to Carter's stunned shock, the officer continued to tell him that they found no traces of bodies, or a maze for killing people and that the owner happily showed them around.

"Owner? What owner?" Carter asked in puzzlement. The trooper smiled.

"I thought you were American? You don't know John Rubio? Sits in your Senate? He owned forests in this area for good ten years, great recreational business from what I've heard."

Carter felt his blood run cold.

"Sorry folks, nothing much can be done. We can run blood tests on the weapon, but there's no evidence to back up your claims unfortunately. The place is clean." The trooper smiled apologetically and left.

All Carter could do was just sit there in speechless silence, in the borrowed car, with Lee asleep in the passenger seat.

When Lee woke up, they were still in the same spot and Lee asked questions, but Carter didn't know what to say, didn't know what to think. Lee asked him if he was okay and he really wasn't. They went through hell, they saw shit from their worst nightmares, they battled for their lives and...

No justice came out of it, nobody was caught, nobody was stopped. What if the Burrowers were still out there? What happened to the bodies? How did they fix the destroyed fence so fast? 

When he felt a hand on his cheek, he involuntarily jumped, just to see Lee worriedly looking at him.

"What's wrong?" Lee asked softly.

Carter couldn't deal with it anymore, so he just leaned over the little gap that separated them in the car and buried his face in Lee's chest, his arms tightly wrapping around his lover's waist. It was an uncomfortable position, but he was too tired to care and much to his gratitude, Lee didn't say anything from that point and quietly rubbed comforting circles on Carter's back.

The sound of steel scraping against the floor was going to haunt Carter forever. And the thought of knowing that it would continue regardless of what they've achieved during their ordeal.

There was nothing to stop the next hunt and barely a month later, five cars left the main gate of the forest.

_Ready for another round._

 

 


End file.
